Do Spare the Lies
by HelenNathalie
Summary: What if Minerva McGonagall is not such a saint as everybody has thought?
1. Do Spare The Lies

Disclaimer: I own nothing. If I did I'd be by now drinking Sex on a Beach in Hawaii and not be wasting either my imagination or my time.

_Do Spare the Lies_

"Minerva Jean McGonagall-Riddle, you have been found guilty of all charges. You shall hereby spend the rest of your life in one of the cells in Azkaban."

Minerva McGonagall stood straight with her wrists tied together, she was clad in green prison attire, and her hair was in a loose bun. After all, it is rather hard to keep oneself well kept if one spends some time in a prison cell with floating Demenetors just mere inches away.

"Professor! No, say something. This cannot be true!" A voice of one Hermione Granger could be heard from the audience. Yes, many people have come to see the trial. Lots of them came to see if the rumours had been true, some of them were now openly smiling at the sentence. So it is true, the-always-perfect Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts, the Head of Gryffindor House, the leader of the Order of the Phoenix, the youngest ever registered Animagus, the renowed Transfiguration expert, the right hand of Albus Dumbledore, and the most powerful with of her age had been found guilty of all charges. It was simply scandalous.

The Professor turned her head to see the young witch. Hermione reminded her so much of herself when she was young-she was spiritual, courageous, powerful, intelligent, and naïve. The latter had meant her own downfall.

Now even other people had started shouting. Many of them used to be her former students or co-workers and it shocked them to the bone to see their respected Professor and colleague in such a position. To all to whom Minerva McGonagall represented a strong character, will, and motivation this trial seemed like a very bad comedy show when someone would jump up and shout April's Fool and they would all laugh. But no such thing had happened.

"I will have order!" Shouted the Judge and motioned for the guards to take away the prisoner. The shouting got, however, even stronger. So many people had been sickened by the happenings during the trial.

The trial had been open as a public one but the revealed things were so scandalous that the Judge had been forced to declare it a secret trial and only the final sentence would be heard also by the audience.

Minerva took one last look at the people that had come to see the trial. There were her friends, her foes, her allies, former students, even her former lovers, and also people she didn't know. But all of them, even her enemies, thought the same thing: "How can this be?" Minerva sighed and the guards took hold of her arms and led her to the massive doors that inevitably led to her cell which would be her home until she took her last breath.

_Should I continue? The next chapter would be about the things that Minerva had done to deserve such sentence. Do let me know if it's worth it. THANXXXX Helen_


	2. To Watch You Burn

Disclaimer: I have just checked my bank account and no millions are deposited there. DARN. I guess I am not JKR.

THANK YOU for all the reviews. You guys made my day. FYI, Minerva is NOT evil. For the most part :P

_To Watch You Burn_

It had been a few days since the trial and Minerva McGonagall had been desperately trying to keep her mind and body occupied. But truthfully it was a hard thing to attain. First, she had tried to think of Transfiguration and the complex spells she last read in the Transfiguration Weekly, then she had tried to think about people whom she had met and had tried to remember details of their whereabouts, families or ages. But too soon she had realized that being alone with only a mind to work with can be a rather stressful thing. You do get annoyed with yourself eventually.

And so Minerva was now staring at the wall across and was thinking about ways how not to get mad within the next few months or, more likely, next few years. The only thing that she had refused to think about was her past that had brought her to this situation. After all, it is not healthy to think about What might have been if's. Or is it?

She was brought out of her reverie by a loud clashing of keys, turning of the key in the lock, and by the opening of the heavy metal door.

"Mrs. McGonagall, you have a visitor." said the guard who couldn't have brought himself to call her Minerva McGonagall-Riddle. He didn't know her personally, but he had heard about this powerful woman. He had also heard of the monster she had married and had experienced his wrath that had taken away his wife. Yet he was not able to spit venom at this woman, not even scold at her. On the contrary, he respected her. She seemed to naturally radiate power and command.

Minerva had looked away from the wall and saw Hermione Granger entering her new humble home.

"Professor."

"That title is no longer for me to hold, Ms Granger." said Minerva with a small sad smile.

"But it is, Professor. You were a teacher to thousands of children and nobody can take that away from you."

"These walls claim otherwise." expressed Minerva with a sigh. " I would offer you a place to sit or something to drink, but I am afraid I am short of such material entities."

Not until now had Hermione noticed her whereabouts and so she stole a glance around the small room. The cell was a little bit spacious than the others, yet it definitely bore the stringent features of the infamous Azkaban environment. There was a small table and a stool on which Minerva was seated, a bed with blankets and a pillow, and the facilities needed for essential human needs. It was a very monotonous place to live in and it pained Hermione to see her beloved Professor in such a place.

"Many others have tried to come and visit you."

"Aye, the line of visitors in front of my doors is never-ending."

"The Ministry has been rejecting their requests. I am the only one who has been granted it. I explained them that I have taken Psychology at University and that I have always been close to you. And…"

"And?"

"And that I would help you adjust."

"Yes, I am sure the Ministry's first objective is to take care of my sanity. "

"You may disagree, Professor, but they care. Many of the officers respect you and are not content with the course of your trial. Many have questioned the sentence-"

"-yet they have no right to do so."

"What are you saying? That you are content with the sentence? If you do, then you are not the Minerva McGonagall I have known almost all my life!" Hermione was furious. How can McGonagall simply be sitting there and not be thinking of a way out of this?

"Then you do not know the real Minerva McGonagall."

"Oh don't you even dare. I have known you most of my life and I have adorned you just as long. You are Minerva McGonagall-the most courageous and powerful woman of your age."

"Hermione, don't." It was not every day that Minerva used her pupil's first name. It was not also every day that Minerva McGonagall uttered words with such pain in her voice. "You do not understand, I deserve this."

"What crime so horrible have you committed to deserve such a life, then?" It made Hermione want to cry to see her favourite Professor in such a state of surrender. She had crossed the small room and kneeled beside the woman.

"I have committed enough to deserve life in hell."

"Tell me."

"I have never fully spoken to anyone about this, not even Poppy. And I have known her for more years than I care to admit." Hermione put her hand in the hands of the older women that rested in her lap. Minerva looked up to see the intelligent chocolate brown eyes and said: "How can I even explain something that I myself do not fully comprehend?"

"One wise woman once told me that it is always best to start with the beginning." Whispered Hermione with a small smile playing on her lips.

"Aye, the woman tends to patronize sometimes." Replied Minerva with a smirk on her face.

"One of the many reasons we love her." Minerva looked at the young witch and she no longer saw the scared first-year with frizzy hair. Instead, she saw a grown woman who had fought in the war and had seen her friends die. She saw a woman who had had to see too many things that were not meant for her young innocent eyes.

And she knew that her secrets would be safe with Hermione.

_Yep, I lied. No crimes of Minerva are revealed in this chapter. Sorry folks, but this chapter has got longer than I had anticipated. Let me know what you think. The review is always GREATLY appreciated!_


	3. Crimes That I Have Done

**Disclaimer: I solemnly swear I am not JKR.**

**Author's Note: Thank you to all my reviewers! It really means a lot me. Constructive criticism is always appreciated. FYI, the story is NOT femmeslash. Minerva and Hermione have more of a mother-daughter relationship. Thanks for reading and leaving a review! Helena**

**Also, 3/4 view is much better as I tend to cut up the dialogues etc.**

_Crimes That I Have Done_

_"Why am I to be pitied, you say? Yes! There's nothing to pity me for! I ought to be crucified, crucified on a cross, not pitied! Crucify me, oh judge, crucify me but pity me?"  
- Fyodor Dostoevsky, __Crime and Punishment__, Ch. 2_

Minerva sat on a stool and next to her, on the floor, was seated Hermione with her hand in the hands of her favourite Professor. They stayed completely silent for a few minutes as Minerva tried to find suitable words to describe her past. But she soon realized that describing one's past can be hell of a task. How could one properly choose words to describe happenings and actions that had already taken place? It is indeed an impossible task, the listener would inevitably get a distorted picture. Nevertheless, she sighed and begun…

"I have never been one for love. I have always preferred more _practical_ things. But as it happened, love entered my life unexpectedly and turned it completely upside down." Yes, Hermione had had certain experience with this as well. Truth to say, it was not a very pleasant experience at all at the end."After all, love has a tendency to come most of the times uninvited. And when it comes, you desperately grasp on the sole existence of your loved one, your solid fundamentals seem to evaporate, and your thinking becomes clouded. "

"And that is my greatest sin, Hermione. I dared to love." Hermione looked up at Minerva and saw sadness painted on the face of the older woman. She had that distant gaze that told Hermione she was once again decades back in the history."I dared love the wrong man. Man who tortured, raped, and murdered thousands of innocent humans. I dared love a man who mistaked himself for a God, who overlooked the simple rules of humanism, and who laughed Death in the face."Hermione could not stand her Professor to be lynching herself so. "But it was not you who turned him into such a monster. It was not you who tortured or murdered. You cannot blame yourself for what happened to all those people, because it was not you who voiced the curses."

"Oh Hermione, how wrong you are. I have done all of those things. To the dot."

"And I managed to do all these things with a saintly smile on my lips." Hermione frowned; she could not fathom the words that were coming from her favourite Professor. This was Minerva McGonagall, not some mass murderer! Minerva seemed not to notice the shocked silence that resumed. On the contrary, she seemed not to be present in the cell; she seemed to be miles and decades far away."Tom was unusually talented in the magic. In our 6th year, he became extremely interested in the Dark Arts thanks to our DADA Professor Guillaime Headsbrook. Mr Headsbrook not only told Tom about the Dark Arts, he gave him private lessons. I was against it, but if Tom wanted something, he got it."

"He became obsessed with it and now I know that even in our time at Hogwarts he had started to plan it all. I never questioned his whereabouts, his cuts and bruises; I did not even question his shifts in mood. I was way too head over heels with him. And I saw him for what he really was as a blind person would."

"After graduation we both went on to become Aurors...of course, now I can say that Tom was only pretending to be interested in this career path. We rented a small flat in London. His moodiness became intolerable and we quarrelled almost everyday. I finally started to see his true colours, but it was too late."

"Tom told me one evening about his plans for the New world order, about the Muggleborns, Deatheaters, about the genocide, and also about the Horcruxes. When telling me about these horrible things, he had a completely mad expression in his eyes. He was unstoppable."

"Then he asked me to become his Queen."

"I was sickened and wanted to leave. But Tom would have none of that. By declining, I immediately became a threat to him and his followers- I could never leave his side once again. The next thing I saw was the tip of Tom's wand in my face and a bright blue light coming my way."

"The next six months all hell broke loose. During that half a year I did unimaginable things, Hermione. Things that nobody dared to name out of fear that they might be re-used."

* * *

"I was held prisoner first and Tom tried to persuade me to become his Queen. As headstrong as I was, I declined even though I knew it would mean my death. Eventually, he became bored with words and used violence. He and his inferiors tortured me day and night. It was unsustainable."

"With subsequent days I became weaker and weaker, until I was unable to stand without falling to the ground. Tom finally realized that I would never join him and…" Minerva took a deep breath "…. did an unforgivable thing, Hermione."

"It is one thing to persuade a person with words or even cruelty, however it is wholly different thing to persuade a person against his own will. To hold that person captive in his own body."

"Professor, what are you talking about?"

"He casted an ancient spell. So ancient that it can be found only in the oldest volumes known to wizard kind. This spell works as Imperius spell. You however can cast it only once and the person is completely bound to do your bidding. The person is locked in his own body. He sees, hears, and even _feels_ the things that he is committing. But unlike the Imperius curse, he cannot break it with his will power."

"The person who casted the spell is mentally bound to the one it was casted upon and can fully command him."

"Did he do this to you?" Hermione whispered.

"Yes."

"How long did you stay under the Curse?"

"Six months."

"Do you remember what you did during those six months?"

"Yes." Now it was Minerva's turn to whisper. "The horrors, Hermione. Nobody can imagine what he made me do. I screamed and fought against every single order, but it was no use. I wanted to harm myself, but I had no command of my own body. It is the worst prison imaginable, your body. It is surprising, that I did not lose my mind."

Hermione was very reluctant to ask a question that had been burning on her lips since the beginning. She did not want to hurt her Professor, but she needed to know. If she wanted to help Minerva get out of the prison alive, she needed to have all the evidence. And so she gathered her Gryffindor courage and softly spoke the words: "What did he make you do?"

Minerva finally lost that foggy look and gazed at her student. Tears were threatening to fall from the older witch's emerald eyes. The six months that she spent in the complete power of the Dark Lord were the worst moments in her life. How she longed to forget the things that she had done. How she longed to forget the faces of all the people she had tortured. And murdered.

"There is only one way for you to understand, Hermione. You must see it."

"But how?"

"I can show you. Even without my wand I still can perform magic to certain extent. I will show you one memory that very much sums up all six months. It is my worst memory."

Minerva reached out and took Hermione's head in her hands. Hermione shifted her body so that she was kneeling and facing Minerva. Hermione looked straight into Minerva's eyes and her vision became fogged…

* * *

**So...whatya think? Hit the button, I know you want to! xoxo Helena**


	4. In the Land Where Angels Dare to Cry

**In the Land Where Angels Dare to Cry**

Hermione appeared in a dark but luxurious room. The shades were shut so no sunlight would come through but every piece of furniture spoke of the massive fortune of the owner. The walls were lined with black bookshelves and wardrobes and were adorned by numerous paintings of former dark wizards and witches.

In the very middle of the room, against the central wall, was a massive king sized bed with dark green sheets and pillows. On the bed sat a naked woman who was facing the opposite direction as if she was trying to look through the shades of the window. In came a lump man who had a strong resemblance of a rat. He was the type of a servant who would follow the highest bidder and now it meant the Dark Lord.

"Your Master wishes to see you, my Queen." With those words, the woman got up and walked to the nearest wardrobe as if there was nobody else in the room but her. The man looked away from the woman's body as if it burnt his sight-it was after all unbecoming to ogle Lord's mistress. Although he couldn't deny that his Master did indeed have a good taste in women for this woman was one of the most beautiful females he has ever seen. When the woman had gotten dressed and made-up, he followed her through the door in the direction of the Main Hall to see their Master.

"Ah Minerva, nice of you to join us." said the Dark Lord who sat in a high back chair that resembled very much a throne. "My Lord." Minerva said with a nod and went to sit in another throne-like chair next to the Dark Lord.

"What do you have, Avery?" asked the wizard a man who seemed to tower over everyone else. He had jet black hair tied in a low pony tail. This man was clad in black robes just like everybody else in the room.

"My Lord, we have spotted a French village with a few dozens of inhabitants, where the suspect of high importance should be hiding." If Minerva had the command of her own facial mimics, she would have sarcastically smirked even despite the situation-suspect of high importance was an excuse to slaughter people.

"Very well, take as many as you please. But I do not want any survivors. Wipe that village off the face of Earth. Your Queen will join you later to confirm the success of the mission."

"Yes, my Lord." The wizard bowed and motioned for others to follow him out of the Main Hall leaving the two of them alone.

They sat in silence for a few minutes as if the Lord was contemplating something. Just then he decided to speak. "Minerva, I wish it weren't this way but I know that I cannot release you from the curse. I wish you could see my way." Minerva turned to look at him as if on command. "Alas, your eyes, even bound, speak volumes of what you feel and I know that you will never feel the same way. I would rather have you here with me alive than dead."

"I think you should go to oversee the operation now." And without a blink of an eye, she was gone.

* * *

When Minerva apparated to the village it was night and half of the place was already on fire. Cries of pain and anguish could be heard from several directions. She set out to walk on what seemed to be the main street. A villager was laying on the street in a puddle blood; she could see he was not dead. Yet. She approached him and the man looked at her and said: "Help." And help she did for she mercilessly killed him with a Cruciatus curse. That man would not survive even with the best medics in St. Mungo's. After a few more victims, Avery approached her.

"My Queen, we believe that we have taken care of everybody in the village."

"You may apparate back; I shall walk through the village to make sure nobody's survived."

"Yes, my Queen." And with that he gave out orders to apparate back and vanished with others.

Minerva stood in the middle of a small square with a Christian statue of an angel in the centre. She looked at the statue and with a harsh laugh crashed it with a powerful curse. The stone angel burst into thousands of small pieces and scattered around. She started to head towards a lonely house that survived the raging at the end of the road and in the process took in the calming silence of the place. It looked as if Armagedon stroke with all the houses on fire and dawn starting to emerge on the sky. If it wasn't for the dead bodies, the place looked almost poetic.

Minerva opened the main door and stepped in the house. It was a family house and there were frames with photos all over the place. She walked up the stairs and looked through various rooms until she stopped in front of the doors that undoubtedly led to a child's room. She slowly opened the door and stepped in. There was a small white bed, colourful carpet and a toys chest that was un-orderly pushed off the wall. Just as she turned around and was about to head out she heard sobs coming from behind the chest. She spun back and out of the chest peeked out a girl of possibly 6 years.

"Êtes-vous un ange?" It was an innocent question. A question that could come from someone who yet had to be corrupted by the world's influence. There was no doubt where the girl got the thought for Minerva had indeed looked as if she was from the outer world with her hair flowing freely around her, clad in beautiful voluminous robes and with a face that could have been carved by Gods themselves.

"Au contraire, mon enfant. Je suis le diable." With those final words Minerva raised her wand and casted the deadly spell. The child fell over the chest in a heap. The only sign that the girl was once alive were the tear marks on her cheeks. Minerva turned around and headed back out the door as if nothing had happened. Her face was set in a cold mask, yet the only give-away were her eyes that screamed the indescribable pain and battle within.

* * *

Translation: Êtes-vous un ange? – Are you an angel?

Au contraire, mon enfant. Je suis le diable. – On the contrary, my child. I am the devil.

**A/N: I am sorry. I feel like this chapter hasn't come out the way I wanted to. It is meant to be a bit morbid so I apologize if the last bit was a bit over the top. Please, please let me know about your thoughts. I would love to know them because I feel a bit desperate about this chapter:/ Cheers, H. xxx**


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